


What To Expect When You're Adopting

by Jelly_Baby, Peanut4242



Series: The Time of Our Lives [4]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Adoption, Family, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Racism, Legos, M/M, Original Male Character - Freeform, Parent Harry, Parent Louis, Past Child Abuse, Racism, Sassy Niall, School, Uncle Niall, as always, daddy!louis, fostering, larry stylinson - Freeform, mentions of child abuse, papa!harry, typical brothers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2018-11-03 05:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10960881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jelly_Baby/pseuds/Jelly_Baby, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peanut4242/pseuds/Peanut4242
Summary: Harry and Louis decide that they're ready to start a family.Over the years they adopt 3 beautiful children, and love each and every one of them with all their hearts.It's a slow process; but so worth it when they can see just how happy their kids are now.





	1. Part 1: Brooklyn

**Author's Note:**

> If you have not guessed by the number of chapters, there are going to be 3 adoptions. Each chapter is it's a one-shot in it's own right, but because there are 3, we decided to put them together!  
> Please be aware that, because these children are being adopted, there are mentions of things that some of you may find sensative.  
> We do not know too much about the adoption process, so some things may be wrong. So I do apologise if something is wrong. However, it is a work of fiction and we are both really pleased with how this has turned out!!  
> Enjoy!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1: Brooklyn -  
> Harry and Louis decide that they ready to start their family and find the perfect little boy in Brooklyn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Tackles child absue. Although only referenced, Brooklyn shows behaviour that is influenced by what he has experienced before coming to live with Harry and Louis.

Harry dished up 3 plates of his homemade macaroni cheese. Louis moved around behind him, grabbing the chilled lemonade out of the fridge and placing the bottle in the middle of the table.

“Smell’s delicious,” Louis commented, head popping over Harry’s shoulder.

“Of course,” Harry agreed. “It’s Grandma Mary’s secret recipe.”

“Gosh, Grandma Mary would have loved him,” Louis gushed, a hint of sadness to his voice as he squeezed Harry’s shoulders in support.

They both looked over to the table where a figure was sat, slowly swinging his legs.

“Yeah; she really would have,” Harry agreed fondly.

The two glanced at each other lovingly before sharing a quick kiss.

“Come on,” Louis smirked widely. “I’m starving!”

Together, they took the 3 plates over to the table. Louis placed one in front of the little boy sat waiting patiently at the table.

“Thank you,” His little voice murmured, as he looked up at Louis’ tall figure.

“You’re welcome little dude,” Louis beamed as he took his seat opposite the young boy.

“Eat as much as you like Brooklyn,” Harry reassured kindly as he took the seat next to him. “There’s even some more if you want.”

“Okay,” The boy replied, his voice still quiet and little. “Thank you, Mr Harry.”

“You’re more than welcome Brooklyn.”

For a few moments, it was quiet as they all began eating. Harry took a few mouthfuls of his food, before looking up at Louis and then over to the little boy beside him. He smiled, unexplainably happy.

This was their first homemade meal together as an official family.

***

“Don’t forget to get the back teeth,” Louis encouraged as he watched the 5-year-old brush his teeth.

Brooklyn nodded rather seriously, looking at Louis with wide eyes. He was using his brand-new Star Wars toothbrush that he had chosen for himself.

Upon receiving the adoption certificate earlier that day, Harry and Louis had taken Brooklyn out and spoilt him. They had treated him to new clothes, shoes, toys, a couple of books, a batman duvet set and lunch out, to name a few things.

Louis smiled at the boy, hardly believing this day had come. Harry and Louis had waited for a long time to start a family of their very own, and now their dream had finally come true. Louis couldn’t quite believe it.

***

The next morning Harry and Louis were sat chatting over a cup of coffee. They had both had a restless night, having been woken in the early hours to a timid voice explaining he had had a bad dream. They had invited Brooklyn into their bed where he promptly fell back asleep; Harry and Louis however, hadn’t slept much since he had joined them as they kept being attacked by elbows and knees.

“Our bed definitely wasn’t made for three,” Louis yawned, rubbing his eyes.

“We make it work though,” Harry smiled fondly over the rim of his coffee cup. Harry leant back and glanced through the archway into the living room to check on Brooklyn; the boy was still sat watching morning cartoons.

“Hmm, maybe. Although I don’t really appreciate being kneed in the back at 5am. And I thought putting up with your snoring was bad enough,” Louis complained lightly.

“Oi, watch it!” Harry exclaimed playfully. “I won’t make you eggs and bacon tomorrow.”

“You’ll probably burn it anyway,” Louis murmured to himself.

“I heard that!” Harry cried, “It happened once, like 5 years ago! And it hasn’t happened since!!”

Louis didn’t need to reply; his laughter was enough.

Harry stood from the table and went over to the fridge. He pulled it open and began looking over the contents. 

“Do you think Brooklyn would like this in his lunchbox today?” Harry asked, once Louis’ laughter had died down. In his hand, Harry showed Louis the dairylea lunchable.

“Probably,” Louis commented. “He likes almost everything.”

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, pulling out the ingredients he needed for breakfast. “He seemed to really like Grandma Mary’s Macaroni Cheese.”

“Didn’t he just!” Louis scoffed, getting up to refill his coffee cup. “He just shovelled it down!”

“Yeah… he did,” Harry sighed sadly. “He’s such a lovely kid though, it’s impossible to imagine how anyone could neglect and abuse him in such a way, let alone his flesh and blood.”

“He’s safe now love, that’s all that matters,” Louis comforted his husband, putting his arm around him.

“Yeah,” Harry breathed thankfully. His tone quickly turned playful, “Now go get that boy ready for his first day at his new school!”

As Harry busied himself putting together Brooklyn’s lunch he couldn’t stop the smile forming on his face at the sound of Louis’ kind fatherly tone and Brooklyn’s giggles. He couldn’t believe how lucky they’d all got.

About 20 minutes later Harry had Brooklyn’s school bag all packed and ready for his first day. It was as he was setting it by the front door that Louis proudly led Brooklyn down the stairs in his new school uniform.

“Oh my gosh look at you!” Harry gushed as they reached the bottom step. “You look so smart!”

Brooklyn smiled shyly, clearly enjoying the praise, but almost not excepting it. He seemed to shrink into himself and look to the ground trying to ignore the gazes of the two men.

He only relaxed when Louis pulled him under his arm into a hug.

“Hey, it’s okay to be nervous,” he reassured kindly. “This is a big step! A big step for us all!”

“And no matter what,” Harry continued. “You’ll always make us proud!”

Brooklyn basked under the praise of them both, before wriggling out of Louis’ hug and hurrying over to hug Harry. Both Harry and Louis shared a joyed look of surprise over his head, as this was the first time the young boy had initiated such a simple thing. He might have joined them in bed last night, but that had only been because Harry and Louis had invited him in.

Harry didn’t break out of the hug first, letting Brooklyn assess this for himself; the boy had years-worth of scars and damage and Harry didn’t want to make it any worse by making Brooklyn feel as though he was discarding him.

It wasn’t long before they had Brooklyn stood against the front door, and were snapping pictures of him with their phones.

“We’d better get a move on if we don’t want to be late,” Louis commented after sparing a quick glance at the clock.

“Oh, but wait!” Harry hurried. “Let’s do a quick selfie!”

Louis scooped up Brooklyn and the three huddled together. They took a few nice photos before Brooklyn declared he wanted to make a silly face.

After that, they all shrugged on their coats, and held hands as they made the short trek to school.

Later on, Harry looked through the photos he had taken that morning. Brooklyn’s dark auburn hair was combed back smartly, showing off his big brown eyes. The light seemed to enhance his face, his freckles more prominent and his smile a genuine one.

Harry smiled fondly at how happy Brooklyn looked before proudly sending a few of the photos to Niall before setting one as his phone wallpaper.

***

Brooklyn had settled in well to his new school. He had made a few friends that he spoke about often and a recent parents evening had informed Harry and Louis that their boy was doing well in lessons too! He’d seemed to have come far since they had adopted him; Harry and Louis couldn’t be more proud!

That morning had been a rushed one. Louis had the day off, so the night before he’d turned his alarm off, not thinking about having to get up for school. This had caused everyone to over sleep. They usually got up at 7:30, but today Harry had woken at 8:12 and as soon as he had registered the time, he’d panicked.

Breakfast had been cereal, and there was no time for cartoons (much to Brooklyn’s disgust!). Brooklyn’s lunchbox wasn’t as exciting as normal, as Harry didn’t have any time to whip up anything extravagant and it didn’t help, time-wise, that Brooklyn hadn’t unpacked his bag from yesterday and so his lunchbox was still upstairs and unwashed.

To make it up to him, for not setting his alarm, Louis started early on the housework while Harry was on the school run. He went about collecting the dirty laundry from the laundry basket in the bathroom, before doing a sweep of the bedrooms to check for anything else; especially as everyone had been in a rush earlier.

It was as he picked up the batman PJ’s from Brooklyn’s bedroom floor that he noticed it. A kit-kat and a carton of orange juice were thrown haphazardly on the floor by the foot of his bed. Frowning, Louis stepped in for a closer look. Upon better inspection of the area, Louis noted that there was more than just the two items on the floor, and they seemed to be spilling from under the bed.

Getting on his hands and knees, Louis looked beneath the bed. It was there that he found a shoebox, overflowing with all different items of packaged food. Pulling it out, Louis was shocked to find all sorts of things, that tended to be packed in Brooklyn’s lunchbox.

Louis knew instantly what had happened, and his heart broke.

He left the evidence on the floor and went to wait on the bottom step for his husband to come home.

That was how Harry found him, with his head in his hands.

“Lou?” Harry asked, almost worriedly. “What’s wrong?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Louis mumbled sadly.

“What is it?”

“Come with me,” Louis said in ways of explanation, as he stood up and started making his way back up the stairs.

Once they were in Brooklyn’s room, Louis motioned to the shoebox and the food that filled the box to bursting. He quickly explained what he had been doing and what he had found.

Nothing but silence enveloped them. They both understood why Brooklyn was hoarding food, of course, after all the boy had spent his first 4 years of life being barely fed. However, it was clearly affecting them both, as they hadn’t realised that Brooklyn felt the need to do this in their care; it was as if he thought they might stop feeding him at some point.

“He’s 5 Harry,” Louis continued, after a few minutes. “He shouldn’t be doing this!”

***

It was after Louis had given Brooklyn his bath, and the boy was dressed in clean PJ’s, that he led him into his and Harry’s bedroom. Brooklyn clearly knew something was up, because they never started in the ‘big room’.

“Hey buddy,” Harry welcomed as his two favourite boys walked in. The nerves then began to kick in. Harry switched off the TV preparing to give Brooklyn his full attention. “Come and sit here,” Harry patted the bed beside him, inviting Brooklyn onto the bed. “We want to talk to you”.

“Am I in trouble?” Brooklyn asked with a worried look on his face.

“No, no of course not, we promise,” Louis reassured quickly and confidently. “We just want to talk to you about something.”

They all got settled comfortably on the bed, Harry fitting his arm around Brooklyn.

“I went into your bedroom today…” Louis started softly. Harry felt Brooklyn instantly tense up, and in response began rubbing soothing circles up and down his arm. “And I picked up your PJs to wash them. When I noticed a kit-kat on the floor.”

“That was from my lunch yesterday!” Brooklyn hurried for an excuse. “I didn’t want to eat it! It must have fell out my bag!”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Harry mumbled squeezing his shoulder gently attempting to soothe him.

Louis was unsure of how to continue without upsetting the boy and setting him back, when he had already come so far since coming to live with them.

“Well, we just wanted to talk with you because after finding the kit-kat I came across a box,” Louis paused for a split second before rushing to reassure; “You’re not in trouble!”

“It wasn’t- I’m sorry!” Tears started to rapidly fall from Brooklyn’s eyes.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about,” Harry assured him. “We promised, you’re not in trouble, we just wanted to speak with you about this and explain that everything’s alright, and you can come to us about absolutely anything.”

But Harry’s reassuring tone did nothing to calm the small child and instead he started to full on sob, constantly apologising over and over again.

Louis grabbed Mr Hugglesworth – A stuffed dinosaur that they had bought for Brooklyn when they first started fostering him – off a bedside table and offered him to the small boy. Brooklyn latched onto it almost as if he was worried the stuffed toy would be taken away from him.

Harry and Louis shared a concerned look over the top of Brooklyn’s head, both trying to hold back the tears themselves. In the short time that they had cared for Brooklyn they had both come to love him very much, and it was heart-breaking to see him like this.

While Brooklyn cried Harry and Louis continued to comfort him using kind words and a reassuring tone. It took a while for Brooklyn to calm down and even when he had, Brooklyn kept apologising.

“I’m sorry. I promise I won’t do it again,” Brooklyn sobbed, desperately clutching Harry’s top in one fist and Mr Hugglesworth in the other.

“Brooklyn,” Louis started softly. “We don’t want you to do it again; not because we’re angry, but because we want you to have everything you want. If you ever want an extra biscuit, just ask. I promise 9 times out of 10 we’ll say yes. The one time we won’t will simply be because it’s nearly dinner time.”

They then spent some more time reassuring him that everything was okay and that he had nothing to worry about.

That night, Brooklyn slept in Harry and Louis’ bed with them.

***

Brooklyn had only been in bed 10 minutes when Harry got a phone call.

“Who’s that?” Louis called from the kitchen where he was making a drink. “Don’t they know it’s grown up time?”

“It’s Niall!” Harry called back before answering the phone.

“Oh thank god, I was starting to think you’d never pick up!”

“Shut up Niall, the phone’s been ringing for like, 30 seconds!”

“Still,” Niall grumbled. “That’s a long time.”

“What do you want?” Harry asked lightly, with a huge dramatic sigh.

“Right. So, get this!” Niall exclaimed enthusiastically. Harry rolled his eyes, expecting something really ridiculous to come from Niall’s mouth. “Apparently, I have this nephew. But I can’t be 100% certain because I haven’t even met him yet. How bloody crazy is that?”

“What?” Harry played along. “No way!”

“Yeah. Also, I’ve heard his parents are pompous assholes!”

“Oh! Well, I heard his uncle is a dickhead.”

Louis chose that moment to walk into the room. He furrowed his eyebrows at Harry as he set the two cups of tea on the coffee table.

“What are you two up too?” He asked, sitting down next to his husband.

Harry hurried to put the phone on loud speaker, so that Louis could join in the conversation too. As he did, Niall was firing back a quick response, using the chosen parental name for Louis.

“Well I heard his Daddy is a poo-face!”

“Hello Niall,” Louis responded calmly. “Lovely to hear your up to your usual tricks.”

“Louis!” Niall cried. “Hi! Maybe you can help me?”

“What’s up?”

“It’s been 3 months already guys,” Niall complained, suddenly turning the conversation away from its playfulness. “When can I meet the kid already?”

Harry and Louis looked at each other over the phone, having a silent discussion. It was a weird coincidence that Niall had chosen today to phone and ask this, as just earlier they had been chatting about when to properly introduce Niall to Brooklyn. Of course they’d spoken to Brooklyn here and there and had mentioned his ‘Uncle Niall’ and had told him all about the guy – they really wanted the two to have a great relationship, and this is why they had left it so long before even thinking about introducing the two.

“I mean, how am I supposed to be the favourite uncle, if I never get to meet him?” Niall continued after a beat or two.

“Niall, you’re his only uncle,” Harry reassured with a smile in his tone.

“Fine then!” Niall hurried to think of something else. “Tell me how exactly I’m supposed to beat the ‘aunties’ then?!”

Louis laughed at Niall referring to his 5 sisters as the ‘aunties’; he knew instantly that the title was going to stick.

“Believe it or not, Niall,” Harry went on, in a matter-of-fact tone. “We agreed only hours ago to finally arrange a date for you to meet him.”

“And come on! Some of the ‘aunties’ have kids of their own so will use this to their advantage! How am I…” Niall stopped ranting as what Harry said seemed to finally sink in. “What? You’re joking!”

After this, they arranged a date for next weekend, so that Niall could meet Brooklyn. Niall was then quick to end the phone call muttering something about google and finding the right present.

***

The day came around far too quickly. Niall had been texting to express his nerves and excitement as the day drew closer and closer. They had told Brooklyn about the meeting and although he seemed happy, it was clear that he was apprehensive. Harry and Louis did as much as they could to assure him but knew Niall would do this easily within the first 30 seconds of them meeting; he had a certain way with people.

Harry called out that Niall had arrived as he heard the doorbell ring. Brooklyn rushed up from where he was sat watching Batman, the cartoon show, and hurried to stand behind Louis who was waiting to greet their guest.

Louis smiled down at the lad as Harry opened the door.

“Hey,” Niall greeted Harry as he walked into the house.

“Niall please be gentle,” Harry mumbled so only the two of them could hear. Everyone knew how strong Niall could come across, and they weren’t sure how Brooklyn would react to it.

Niall who had spotted the small boy peeking out from behind Louis, gave Harry a pointed look before handing him a bag of gifts to hold. He slowly approached Louis and the hiding form, and crouched down to Brooklyn’s height.

“Hi Brooklyn,” He spoke. Harry and Louis didn’t realise that Niall could talk so softly. “I’m your Uncle Niall. I’ve been very much looking forward to meeting you.”

“Hello,” Brooklyn mumbled in a really small voice. He clutched onto the bottom of Louis top almost for security.

“I brought you a present,” Niall continued, “Would you like to see?”

Brooklyn’s eyes lit up and he tilted his head to check in with Louis. Louis nodded his encouragement, putting his hand on top of Brooklyn’s head slowly guiding him forwards.

Niall reached for the bag as Harry handed it over. He reached into the bag gently and pulled out the item on the top. He carefully handed over the nicely wrapped box and waited with baited breath. Niall was nervous about how the present would be received as this was their first interaction, and could potentially make or break their relationship.

Brooklyn began unwrapping the present to discover a Lego Batman set. He had seen this advertised on TV a few times, and had really wanted it but had never had the courage to ask his parents for it for fear of his request being rejected.

“Thank you,” Brooklyn whispered, raising his head to properly look at Niall for the first time. His eyes were bright with excitement.

“You’re more than welcome,” Niall smiled, relieved that Brooklyn liked his present. “Your Dad told me that you wanted it.”

Brooklyn looked up at Louis in awe. Brooklyn had yet to build up the confidence to use parental names for Harry and Louis; and neither of his adoptive parents were pushing him to do so, wanting him to do it in his own time. However, he still knew that Niall was referring to louis when he said ‘Dad’.

“Can I build it now?” Brooklyn asked cautiously.

“Of course you can,” Louis agreed. “Just sit at the kitchen table with it.”

“Can I help?” Niall asked Brooklyn.

“Yeah! Come on Uncle Niall!”

Harry stepped up to stand next to Louis with a fond look on his face as he watched the two head into the kitchen.

“Well, that went better than expected.”

_ **Epilogue:** _

It had taken the two of them all day to set it up. It had come pretty much flat packed in boxes and had really complicated instructions to go with it. But, when they stood back to observe their hard work they were pleased to find a fully working trampoline.

It was a gift from them to Brooklyn to celebrate his 6th birthday.

Both Harry and Louis had picked him up from school that day, and Brooklyn had been ecstatic that Daddy was there to pick him up as well. Usually it was just Papa as Daddy worked all day.

They went out for ice-cream in the sunshine before heading home. When they arrived, Harry led them round to the back gate and started to unlock the padlock that kept it shut.

“Why are we going this way Papa?” Brooklyn asked curiously. They almost always went through the front door, and when they did go around the back it had been because they had got muddy from jumping in puddles.

“You’ll see,” Harry said, pushing the gate open, and holding it wide for Brooklyn to walk in first.

It was the first thing he saw, the big trampoline in all its glory. He gasped before rounding on his parents.

“Is it for me?”

“Of course it is,” Louis laughed. “Happy birthday!”

“I can jump on it now?” He asked, already jumping on tip-toes; he was clearly excited.

“Go for it!” Harry encouraged, a huge smile on his face.

That was all the encouragement Brooklyn needed before charging straight for the trampoline.

As they watched him jumping to his heart’s content, and relishing in the feeling of how happy he was, Louis threaded his arm through Harry’s.

“Hey Harry,” He started, voice joyful.

“Yes Louis?” Harry turned to look at his husband.

“Let’s have another.”

END OF PART 1


	2. Part 2: Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2: Chase -  
> Harry and Louis want to expand their family. Brooklyn, however, is a little uncertain of the newcomer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for taking SO long to get this out (We are in denial that it has been longer than a year! Don't try and kid us otherwise ;D)  
> We hope this is worth it!!!!
> 
> WARNING: There is a very SLIGHT mention of racism later in the chapter. This does not reflect our views and beliefs and is not meant to cause any offence.

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon in the Tomlinson household. Louis was at work; Harry was sat on the sofa supposedly watching TV but in reality, was impatiently watching the clock. He kept bobbin his knee up and down nervously, glancing towards the phone on the coffee table. Brooklyn was none the wiser to Harry’s anxiousness, and knelt at the table putting finishing touches onto a Lego rocket ship which he had been building for him and uncle Niall to fly to the moon in.

Suddenly, Brooklyn’s play was interrupted by the piercing sound of the phone ringing. Harry flew out of his seat, snatching the landline off the table.

“I need you to be quiet for me while I take this call; it’s really, really important,” Harry said as he rushed out of the room with the phone. Brooklyn watched Harry leave; He had never seen his Papa move so quickly.

Brooklyn didn’t go back to playing straight away, instead he attempted to listen in. He could hear Harry in the kitchen answering the phone, but he was unable to follow the conversation. He could tell it was serious by the tone of Papa’s voice, and found himself becoming a little worried. Both Harry and Louis had been taking many phone calls lately and, having many hushed conversations between themselves when they thought Brooklyn wasn’t paying attention. Brooklyn had also not been oblivious to the many social workers who had come to look around the house as of late. He was starting to think that he had done something wrong and was being sent back.

Cautiously, Brooklyn went back to his Lego. He wasn’t as enthusiastic to finish it now, and was still keeping his ear on the one-sided conversation that he could still hear from the kitchen.

Brooklyn could hear when the phone call became less serious, as Harry started crying out in delight. He kept thanking whoever was on the other end of the phone for a few minutes, before arranging a date and time. When the call ended, Harry didn’t reappear; so Brooklyn got up off the floor and followed the exit Harry had made a few minutes previously.

He stood in the kitchen doorway and watched as his Papa made another phone call. This time, it was to Louis.

“Louis! We got it!” Harry cried excitedly, not having noticed Brooklyn was stood watching him. “We got the okay!”

For a few minutes he spoke ecstatically to Louis, clearly overjoyed. Harry only noticed Brooklyn once he’d put the phone down.

“Who was that?” Brooklyn asked shyly, not moving to enter the room properly.

“It was Daddy.” Harry said, still happy. “He says he’s going to leave work early today.”

“Why?”

“We’re going to go out tonight,” Harry explained as he crouched down in front of the boy.

“Why?”

Harry smirked. They had reached that stage with Brooklyn recently where all he would do is question why repeatedly. It got old very fast.

“We’re celebrating.”

“Celebrating what?”

“Celebrating our family.”

****

When Louis had got home from work, a lot earlier than normal, he had been very happy. They had gone out that evening for a meal in celebration. Even though his parents kept telling him they were celebrating their family, Brooklyn still didn’t completely understand.

When they got home, it was nearly Brooklyn’s bedtime. But instead of Papa helping him get ready for bed, Daddy told him to sit on the sofa. They wanted to talk to him.

“How would you feel if another child was to come and live with us?” Louis asked cautiously.

Brooklyn didn’t say a word as Harry passed him a picture. It was a small portrait picture showed an even smaller boy. The boy in the picture was dark skinned, with big brown glistening eyes. His hair was short and fluffy and the boy wore a smile on his face.

“His name is Chase, he’s three years old and is all alone in the world. His mummy and daddy went up to heaven and now there’s to look after him. He’s got no family to go to and he needs someone to love him,” Explained Louis. “What do you think?”

Again, Brooklyn didn’t say anything.

Harry and Louis looked at each other worriedly, they needed Brooklyn to be on board with the idea for it to work. They had already agreed that if Brooklyn didn’t want this, they would let the adoption process fall through; because even though they wanted this more than anything, Brooklyn was their first and foremost importance.

Brooklyn looked up at his parents and spoke quietly.

“We should love him.”

****

It had been a long day; but a successful one.

They had finally started fostering Chase, and were part way to finalising his adoption. Chase’s social worker Liam Payne, had become good friends with the Tomlinson’s, after helping them with Brooklyn’s adoption. They kept in contact often and when he had found out they were looking to adopt again, he was able to help them be matched with Chase and had been able to speed up the process a tiny bit.

Hopefully, as long as everything went right, Chase was going to be the newest member of their little family. When Harry and Louis had picked him up from the children’s home to start their 10 weeks of fostering him before they could officially adopt, they took him into town and spoilt him. They brought him new clothes, toys and books to help make him feel more at home with them.

They had left Brooklyn at home with Uncle Niall during this time. There had been several rules to follow while Harry and Louis were out, and of course, Niall had found a way to break every single one of them. Brooklyn had spent the afternoon high on sugar, and Uncle Niall had been given the pleasure of keeping him busy.

Niall had taken Brooklyn to the park so he could burn off all that energy.

While the two partners in crime were gone, Harry and Louis spent some more time with Chase, showing him around the house and helping him settle in to his new bedroom that he would be sharing with Brooklyn. If the adoption went through, Harry and Louis were already thinking about moving house so that their boys could each have a room of their own.

Harry started making tea, Grandma Mary’s macaroni cheese. Louis sat on the sofa with Chase and they started watching Paw Patrol (Chase’s favourite TV show, as he was in it!) It was just as Harry was starting to make dinner, Niall returned with a sleepy Brooklyn on his shoulder; the boy’s sugar rush definitely over.

“I think we crashed,” Niall greeted Harry, as the younger brother opened the front door.

“Papa,” Brooklyn called, voice sluggish. He let go of Niall’s neck and reached across to Harry. Harry, who was donned in a ‘kiss the cook’ apron, didn’t miss a beat. He hurried to take Brooklyn from Niall’s arms, and his heart filled with warmth as his boy wrapped his small arms around his neck and buried his face into his shoulder.

“Tired buddy?” Harry asked, patting Brooklyn’s back comfortingly. As he did this, he motioned for Niall to enter the house.

Brooklyn hummed, but didn’t give a verbal answer.

“Did you have a good time with Uncle Niall?” Harry asked, trying to jog the boy a little to keep him awake. It wasn’t bed time yet, and he knew that if Brooklyn fell asleep now he would be up at a ghastly hour.

Again, all Brooklyn replied with was an inaudible mumble.

“Come on buddy,” Harry called, voice slightly louder than normal to get the attention of his dozing son. He could sense Brooklyn falling asleep fast. “It’s not bed time yet! You’re going to miss Grandma Mary’s mac and cheese!”

Brooklyn perked up, head raising slightly from Harry’s shoulder.

“Mac and cheese?” He asked, before a loud yawn left him.

“Yep!” Harry declared, smiling brightly at the boy. “Papa’s just about to start making it now!”

“I thought I heard you mister!” Louis’ voice sounded as he appeared in the living room doorway. “I’ve missed you Brooklyn!”

Harry passed the 6-year-old over to his husband.

“Come on. There’s someone in here I want you to meet,” Louis told Brooklyn excitedly as he turned around and made his way back into the living room.

Harry smiled fondly after his boys, before turning to Niall who was still stood in the doorway watching the family in admiration.

“Was he good for you?” Harry asked, motioning for Niall to follow him through to the kitchen. “I mean, after you filled him up with all that sugar that is.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sorry about that,” Niall apologised wholeheartedly. “But man, that kid was great fun this afternoon!”

“I think you may have just met your match Niall,” Harry joked, returning to the side where he had been preparing the mac and cheese.

****

Brooklyn was the first to wake. He could tell it was early as the sun was still rising.

Sitting up, Brooklyn noticed that Chase’s bed was empty _again._ Even though Chase went to sleep in his bed every night, Brooklyn always woke to discover it empty the next morning. Every morning Brooklyn would find Chase curled up in Daddy and Papa’s bed.

And this morning was no exception.

Louis was already awake, sat up, propped against the headboard. Harry was led beside him, with Chase in his arms; both were fast asleep.

“Daddy?”

Louis looked up at Brooklyn who was stood in the doorway of the bedroom. He smiled when he noticed the boy.

“Morning, Bud,” He greeted quietly, waving him further into the room.

Brooklyn hurried in, hoping that today, maybe he too could have cuddles in the big bed.

“You okay?” Louis asked as the boy came to a stop beside him. Brooklyn nodded.

“Can we have cuddles, please?” He whispered, playing with the bottom of his PJ top.

“Of course we can,” Louis smiled, looked to Harry, trying to gage whether his husband would be rising soon. He pushed the cover back and stood from the bed. “Let’s go get some breakfast, and cuddle on the sofa.”

Brooklyn was a little disheartened by this news but took Louis’ hand readily and followed the man down the stairs.

Louis made toast for them to munch on as they snuggled under a blanket on the sofa and watched the morning cartoons.

When the next ad break rolled round, they started showing a brand new, superhero Lego set.

“Daddy,” Brooklyn called, voice quiet.

Louis knew this was coming; he was sure that Brooklyn was going to ask for it. Louis had his reply already set up, _“Be good, and we’ll see what Santa brings you.”_

“Yeah?” Louis hummed, in acknowledgment.

“Why don’t I get cuddles in the big bed like Chase?”

Oh.

Louis hadn’t been expecting that.

“Well,” Louis started, a bit thrown off by that question. “I’m not quite sure whether the big bed would fit us _all_ in it,” He made sure that his voice was light and innocent, so not to upset Brooklyn. “And also, Chase and Papa were sleeping. We wouldn’t want to wake them, would we?”

Brooklyn shook his head in response, choosing not to reply verbally. The ad break was over, and Brooklyn quickly refocused his attention on the TV.

Brooklyn wasn’t finding it exactly easy with Chase around. Not only was he missing his usual morning cuddles in the big bed because of Chase, he also had to get used to sharing his Daddy and Papa. Not only that, but he had to share _everything_ with Chase; his cereal, his toys, his Star Wars cups, and even his bedroom. Brooklyn always had to watch stupid baby programs like Paw Patrol on TV, instead of cool shows like Batman! Then there was the fact that Chase got to stay home all day with Papa while Brooklyn had to go to school. It wasn’t fair.

After breakfast, Louis bids his farewells and set off for work.

Chase had asked for another drink, and once Papa had given him another cup of juice he began to explain the plan for their day.

“So, boys,” He started, clapping his hands together. There was a huge smile on his face and he tried to make this as exciting as he could for them both. “We’re going to have a busy day, today!”

Brooklyn looked up from his colouring book, suddenly interested.

“What we going today Papa?” He asked curiously.

“Well, we’re going to the park, to feed the ducks,” Papa explained. “And then we’re going into town to get a few bits. And we need to get some food for the cupboards too. But, if you’re good, we can have lunch out today! How does that sound?”

“Can we buy a toy in town?”

“Well,” Papa started. “We’ll see. You’ll have to be on your best behaviour. Think you can manage that?”

Brooklyn smiled wide, nodding enthusiastically.

“Yes, Papa!”

At the same time, on the other side of the table, there was a ‘clunk’ and suddenly a flood of juice came rushing towards Brooklyn. He tried to push away from the table, but he’d been too slow, and the juice flowed over the edge and into his lap.

Papa tried not to make a big deal out of it and rushed to grab some kitchen towels to mop it up with. Brooklyn looked up at Chase, who had spilt the drink and frowned.

“You should be more careful; you got me wet!” Brooklyn grumbled.

Chase’s bottom lip began to wobble, and his eyes filled with tears. He looked at Harry and started to apologise over and over again.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to!”

“Hey now,” Harry reassured softly as his mopped the drink up. “No harm done. We can clean this up and get Brook some clean clothes.”

“But Papa, these are my favourite trousers. I want to wear them today!” He sniffled, starting to become uncomfortable in the wet sticky clothes.

Harry took a breath before addressing his son.

“I’m sorry Brooklyn. But you’re going to have to take them off so I can wash them; and you can wear them tomorrow.”

Brooklyn scowled and huffed. Chase continued to sob and Brooklyn couldn’t help rolling his eyes and muttering to himself;

“What a baby!”

****

Harry lifted Chase into the shopping trolley. As he clipped the 3-year-old into the seat, Brooklyn pulled on his sleeve.

“Papa, can I sit in the trolley too please?” He demanded.

“No Brooklyn,” Harry told his son, dismissively. “You’re too big.”

“But Papa! I want to sit in the trolley!” Brooklyn whined and stomped his foot.

“I want doesn’t get, Mister,” Harry scolded lightly, waggling his finger.

Brooklyn pouted, but said no more for the moment, and Harry was able to push the trolley into the store and start their shopping.

Harry continued shopping, with a sulky Brooklyn in tow. Harry rolled his eyes at the boy, who was mumbling to himself about how unfair it was that he wasn’t sat in the trolley.

It had been pretty much the same all day. Chase had done something, and Brooklyn either wasn’t happy about it, or wanted on the bandwagon. He’d complained like crazy when Chase had apparently been given more bread than he had to feed the ducks with. He had wanted a new outfit like Chase had gotten when they went into town, and he was outraged when Harry informed him that he had plenty of clothes at home. Then at lunch, Brooklyn had his new Lego book out on the table, and he’d thrown a fit when Chase had smothered his greasy hands all over the pages.

It hadn’t been an easy day for Harry.

As Harry stopped to place a salmon in the trolley, he couldn’t help but overhear Brooklyn.

“It’s not fair. I want to sit in the trolley. Stupid Chase. Stupid Papa.”

“Excuse me, young man!” Harry snapped, trying to keep his cool. “I have told you, you are too big to sit in the trolley. And Chase is getting tired.”

If Harry thought guilt tripping Brooklyn was going to work, he was sorely mistaken.

“But I’m tired too,” Brooklyn whined, loudly, catching the attention of some of the other shoppers. “My feet hurt!”

“No Brooklyn,” Harry sighed, resigning himself to the fact that Brooklyn just wasn’t going to stop. “That’s enough.”

As he continued, Brooklyn moped behind him. And if Harry listened carefully, he could hear the boy still complaining; but this time, about how much his feet hurt.

****

Once they were home, Harry had set the boys up in the living room with toys and the TV while he prepped tea.

The two boys were sat opposite each other at the coffee table. Chase was colouring and occasionally glancing at the TV where Paw Patrol was playing. Brooklyn had his new Lego book set out on the table, and an almost-finished Lego model that he’d been working on for a couple of days now. He’d not even used any instruction manuals to help him, and he was super proud of his work.

Brooklyn was so immersed in his building that he wasn’t paying any attention to the TV or his surroundings. If he was, he would have noticed Chase getting bored with his colouring just as Paw Patrol was coming to an end. And he would have definitely noticed when Chase got up and came around to his side of the table to get a better look at the Lego.

“Wow,” Chase gushed, his eyes lighting up at the model as Brooklyn attached another piece. “You’re building a boat!”

“Go away,” Brooklyn grumbled, not looking up from what he was doing. He glanced over at his book before selecting another piece of Lego.

“It’s so cool,” Chase continued, ignoring Brooklyn’s demand. “It looks just like the one in your book!”

“Go away!” Brooklyn snapped harsher, finally looking over at Chase. The 3-year-old was getting closer even still, and Brooklyn didn’t like it.

“I can help!” Chase decides, reaching for a Lego piece himself.

“NO!” Brooklyn cried, grabbing Chase’s hand. He didn’t want him to touch his Lego and ruin it.

Chase pulled his hand away from Brooklyn’s grip, and the tug made him loose his balance. He caught the Lego Boat model with his elbow accidentally, and the whole thing went crashing to the ground, shattering into hundreds of pieces.

Chase immediately rushed to apologise, not noticing the fury rising in Brooklyn’s eyes.

“I’m sorry Brook! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I can fix it! I’m sorry!”

Harry was in the room a second later. He had been peeling onions when the unmistakable sound of Lego smashing drew his attention. It had been so loud, Harry had dropped what he’d been doing and rushed to see what was happening and if his boys were okay. He didn’t really expect to see the Lego model that Brooklyn had been working on for days ruined on the floor, Chase almost in tears as he tried to pick up a few pieces, or Brooklyn boiling with rage.

Chase was still mumbling apologies as he stood up, with a chuck on still intact Lego in his hand. He went to offer it to the older boy, but Brooklyn screamed in anger.

It all happened so fast. Harry couldn’t reach the boys quick enough and shouted for them stop just a second too late. Brooklyn reached out and violently shoved Chase.

Time seemed to stop for a moment. And then suddenly, everyone was crying.

Chase was on the floor, sobbing and still apologising. Brooklyn burst into angry tears and started stamping all over his Lego, demolishing it even more.

“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!” Brooklyn kept repeating over and over again as he continued. He picked up chucks of Lego and started throwing it around, with no real target in mind, still stomping. It was obvious the boy was so overwhelmed with emotions that he didn’t know what to do with himself. He turned to the coffee table and in one swift move, everything was swiped onto the floor.

It felt like everything was in slow motion for Harry. He wasn’t sure what to do. Both boys needed him. Chase was upset and possibly hurt, and Harry’s instincts were crying out for him to check the poor boy over. But Brooklyn was in such a rage, that he obviously needed someone to step in and stop him.

Harry made a quick decision and hurried over to Chase.

“You’re okay,” He soothed as he plucked the boy up, and sat him on the sofa. “Just watch TV for a bit. Everything’s going to be fine.” Harry spoke hurriedly, smoothing Chase’s hair down real quick before turning his full attention to Brooklyn.

The older boy was now kicking the coffee table and slamming his hands down on it forcefully. He was still screaming at the top of his lungs and Harry was really worried that he was going to hurt himself quite badly.

Harry had seen Brooklyn upset before; he’d even seen him get angry. But Harry had never seen the boy like this, and it scared him half to death with worry. He wished that Louis was here with him right now, for moral support and guidance; this was definitely something that needed the both of them. There were a million thoughts rushing through Harry’s mind at over 200mph; he knew he had to do something for Brooklyn, but he really wasn’t sure what would be the best course of action. He just hoped that whatever he did next was right by both Brooklyn _and_ Chase; because the younger boy was still in the room watching.

“Brooklyn,” Harry called loudly, to be heard over Brooklyn’s screaming, but soft enough to let the boy know he wasn’t trouble. He was beside the boy in mere seconds, and reached out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Brooklyn lashed out, arms flying everywhere as he blocked Harry’s hands.

“NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!” Brooklyn shrieked.

“Brooklyn! Brooklyn! It’s okay!” Harry panicked. He attempted to gently take Brooklyn’s hands into his own but the boy snatched them away again.

“GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!”

Harry continued to calm the boy both with spoken reassurances and physical contact but his efforts remained unsuccessful. Brooklyn kept swatting Harry away and he seemed to get more and more wound up at each advance Harry made. Harry was drowning in his own panic and worry and found himself raising his voice as he spoke to the boy.

“Brooklyn! Come on! Stop now!”

But Brooklyn continued to push him away and lash out.

Harry realised that the boy was not going to stop on his own and he needed to intervene. Harry moved with purpose and wrapped his arms around Brooklyn and pulled him close to his chest. The hold was firm but not too tight. However, Brooklyn bucked in an attempt to be released and continued to scream incoherently.

Harry’s plan had been to take Brooklyn out of the room and away from the situation, but it was obvious with the way Brooklyn was moving that this was going to be next to impossible without the boy being dropped in the process.

For a few minutes, Brooklyn struggled with all his might to get away from Harry but it was becoming obvious that the boy was now beginning to quickly tire. When Harry realised this it seemed to renew his strength to hold onto him.

“Shhhh….It’s okay Brook, it’s okay. Just calm down. Good boy.” Harry repeated in a calming mantra, and slowly all fight left Brooklyn.

The adrenaline had left Harry now that Brooklyn was boneless against him. Harry sunk to the floor with Brooklyn and cradled his head close to him as he began to rock gently from side to side. Harry began humming softly to Brooklyn a song which Harry had always sung to him.

Brooklyn was now sobbing profusely in Harry’s arms; he just couldn’t stop. His crying now, was full of sorrow and remorse as he kept repeating _‘Papa’_ over and over again. He clutched Harry’s arms tightly, as if scared to let go.

The two sat together like this for a while until they both calmed enough to move. Brooklyn slowly untangled himself from Harry, and as much as Harry didn’t want him to go, he let him. Harry then followed suit, rising into a crouch so that he was still the same height as his son.

“I’m sorry Papa,” Brooklyn spoke weakly; his voice sounding hoarse from all his screaming and crying. “I’m sorry!”

Harry could tell that the boy meant every word. He looked and sounded so heartbroken that Harry just wanted to snuggle and cuddle him and protect him from all the bad things in the world.

“It’s okay Brooklyn,” Harry shushed, pressing a light kiss to the boy’s crown. “It’s okay.”

Brooklyn seemed to think something over for a minute, and Harry didn’t know what to say or do. He still had a million thoughts rushing through his mind, and he was almost scared that Brooklyn would have another outburst.

“Can I go to my room, Papa?” Brooklyn asked, almost too quietly for Harry to hear him.

“Uh…” Harry dragged the sound out as he quickly thought it all through. He hadn’t been expecting that to be the next thing Brooklyn had said, and it had caught him off guard. He didn’t know what the right thing to say or do was, but decided that it was probably in the boy’s best interests to let him have what he wanted right now. “Well, I… I guess so. I’ll be up to check on you in 10 minutes; okay buddy?”

Brooklyn barely responded to Harry’s approval of his request and quickly hurried out of the room.

Harry watched him go sadly, slowly pulling himself up to his feet. He wanted to go after him, but refrained from doing so. He still had another boy that needed his attention. And now, with Brooklyn all but sorted, he could turn to Chase and make sure that the boy truly was okay.

But Chase too looked completely heartbroken, sat by himself on the sofa. He had obviously been watching the scene play out in front of him and Harry was worried how the young boy had taken it. It wasn’t something that he should have had to see, and Harry now deeply regretted not trying to take Brooklyn out of the room. Chase wasn’t crying, but he looked close to it and he clutched a cushion tightly in his arms.

“Chase?” Harry called out softly, sitting himself on the edge of the sofa next to his foster-son. “You okay, buddy?”

Chase turned huge, beautiful, shiny brown eyes on Harry.

“I’m sorry Papa; I didn’t mean to break the Lego’s!”

Harry’s heart did a happy summersault at the word ‘Papa’. It was the first time Chase had called Harry by it, and it really did warm Harry to the core. Still, he didn’t let any emotion of this show, and continued on as if nothing out of the ordinary had been said, not wanting to draw attention to it and potentially put Chase off ever uttering the name again.

“It’s okay,” Harry reassured him with a small smile. “I know it wasn’t your fault; you were only trying to help.”

“Is Brooklyn okay?” Chase questioned seriously, sounding seriously concerned about the older boy.

“Brooklyn’s going to be just fine,” Harry promised him softly. “He was a little upset, but he’s going to be fine.”

Chase nodded slowly. He crawled quickly into Harry’s arms and snuggled close to him, seeking out comfort. Harry readily gave it, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy and pulling him in.

****

It had been a long day filled with meetings and deadlines, and Louis was pleased to finally be home. He could kick his shoes off, loosen his tie, curl up with Brooklyn on the sofa and watch the footie match.

Except as soon as Louis walked into the house, he could sense something was up. Usually Harry was just dishing up dinner as he arrived, but there were no delicious smells wafting over to him from the kitchen, and the house was eerily quiet.

“Harry?” He called piercing the silence. Louis popped his head around the living room door to find his husband and foster-son snuggled up together on the sofa. Chase appeared to be sleeping, and Louis noticed Brooklyn was nowhere to be seen.

Harry looked up at Louis; He looked tired and upset.

“Don’t worry,” Harry rushed to reassure. “He’s just dropped off. I’m going to wake him up in 10 minutes.”

Louis nodded as he slowly made his way further into the room. Although he wasn’t too worried about Chase being asleep so close to bedtime, he was more concerned that it was obvious that something had happened while he was at work. If he had to guess, it had something and everything to do with Brooklyn considering the boy wasn’t currently in the room.

“What’s wrong Harry?” Louis started his line of questioning. “And where’s Brooklyn? Is everything okay?”

Harry took a few breaths, as if trying to calm himself before he spoke.

“No, it’s not okay.”

Louis watched as Harry’s eyes began to glisten and overflow with tears. Louis’ heart clenched at the sight, and a million thoughts came to mind as to what had upset his husband. He didn’t waste a moment rushing to the sofa and wrapping a reassuring arm around him.

“Alright, come here,” Louis shushed, pulling Harry closer to him, careful of Chase who was still dozing on the sofa cushion beside them. He started rocking subtly, the small movement soothing Harry as the man continued to cry.

There were no words shared between the two for some time. Louis held Harry as the man sobbed, and only spoke when his tears started to slow.

“Okay,” He sighed, reassuringly. “What’s upset you so much, love?”

Harry turned big wet eyes on his husband.

“It’s Brooklyn,” Harry exclaimed loudly, around the fresh bout of tears that suddenly started.

“Brooklyn?” Louis questioned worriedly. “What’s wrong with Brooklyn?” Louis couldn’t deny that he automatically thought the worst. He had to remind himself though, if it had been something _that_ serious, Harry would have contacted him at work.

Harry took a few shuddery breaths, trying to gain control of his emotions. He wiped desperately at his eyes, but the tears didn’t seem to relent.

“I don’t know what happened!” Harry cried. “Everything seemed fine, but then it wasn’t. We had such a good day and, okay, Brooklyn had a few moments but nothing more than usual. He still seemed himself. And then we got home and he was playing with his Lego; and then… I don’t know. Something happened and I didn’t what to do. I wished you were here, but you weren’t and I was stuck on my own.”

Louis barely kept up with Harry’s ranting. He tried to follow it, but wasn’t having much luck. And besides, it didn’t sound like Harry had explained what had _actually_ happened.

“Harry,” Louis spoke a little firmer, to get Harry’s attention. “Slow down. And start again.”

“Everything was fine,” Harry took a deep breath, and did as he was told. His crying had almost ceased now, but it was clear he was still very upset about something. “We went into town and had a good day. Brooklyn had a bit of a moment in the supermarket, but nothing out of the ordinary. Chase was a good boy though, and I think Brooklyn was a little jealous by the time we started food shopping.”

Louis nodded his head in understanding. He had an inkling that Brooklyn was a tiny bit jealous of the younger boy based on the conversation he had with him this morning.

“And then we got home. I started tea and left the boys in here. They seemed okay. But then there was a huge crash of Lego and I rushed in to see all the Lego on the floor and Brooklyn pushed Chase. And then Brooklyn just flipped.”

“Flipped?” Louis asked, although Louis was starting to put the pieces together.

“Flipped,” Harry nodded. “He started shouting and screaming. He lashed out, kicking his Lego, hitting the table. I was _so_ scared that he was going to hurt himself. He just had a meltdown.”

Louis didn’t know what to say.

“I had to restrain him Lou. He wasn’t stopping.”

Louis could hear the heartbreak, and worry in Harry’s voice. He was clearly beating himself up over this and was concerned that he had done the wrong thing.

“Well, where is he now? Is he okay?” Louis asked kindly.

“He’s in his room. He’s fine; I’ve checked on him a few times. But he chose to go there, and I didn’t want to stop him.”

“As long as he’s okay Harry, then everything’s going to be fine,” Louis comforted. “Please don’t worry about this, love. I’ll go and chat with him and see whether I can get anything out of him.”

Louis left Harry downstairs to wake Chase up, as he walked up the stairs to seek out his son. Harry was also going to order take out as it was too late now to continue cooking.

Louis couldn’t help thinking about the whole Brooklyn and Chase ordeal. It appeared that Brooklyn wasn’t really coping so well with the younger boy. And as much as Harry and Louis wanted to adopt him, if it wasn’t working for Brooklyn then it wouldn’t work for any of them; Brooklyn was their number one priority at the moment.

Brooklyn was sat on his bed, fiddling with a toy. He looked like he’d been crying and was clearly very emotional.

“Hey Buddy,” Louis greeted softly, as he peered into the boy’s room.

Brooklyn looked up at him.

“Daddy?” The boy asked, voice small and broken. Louis watched as his son broke down crying, very much like his husband had done only moments previously.

Louis rushed to the boy’s side, easily scooping him up into his lap and wrapping his arms around him as he settled them both comfortably on the bed.

Whatever had happened had really upset everything at home, and Louis honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Chase started crying on him next. He desperately wanted to fix everything for his small family and make everything better, but to begin he had to know exactly what happened and what was going through Brooklyn’s mind right now.

“What are the tears for Brook?” Louis asked after a moment, his hand running down Brooklyn’s back comfortingly.

“I don’t know,” Brooklyn wailed, clutching Louis’ work shirt in his hand. Louis had half-expected that response.

“Well,” Louis continued, trying to get the boy talking without actually questioning him on what happened. “I heard you went shopping today.”

Brooklyn nodded and sobbed.

“Did you have a good time?” Louis prompted.

“Yeah,” Brooklyn sniffed. “But Chase got more stuff than me. And Papa shouted.”

“Papa shouted?” Louis questioned lightly.

“Yeah!” Brooklyn accused. “I wanted to sit in the trolley like Chase; but Papa said no!”

“Oh, come on buddy,” Louis spoke playfully, jostling the boy in his arms lightly. “You don’t need to sit in the trolley! You’re a big boy now!”

“But Chase was sat in the trolley!”

Louis rolled his eyes, glad the boy couldn’t see him.

“Chase has little feet, remember? You have big boy feet, don’t you?” Louis reached for the boy’s socked feet. He tickled them lightly making Brooklyn giggle and wriggle his feet away.

“Daddy, stop!” He exclaimed, pushing at the man a little.

Louis did and took a moment to look the boy over. Brooklyn face was still wet from where he had been crying, but he did look a little brighter now. Louis didn’t know how long it would last, as he had yet to discuss the boy’s meltdown with him.

“And what happened once you got home, Brook?” Louis asked next, his tone taking on a more serious note. Brooklyn seemed to sense the change and looked up at Louis almost worriedly.

“I’m sorry Daddy; I didn’t mean to.” Brooklyn’s eyes began to water all over again, but this time they seemed remorseful rather than upset.

“Didn’t mean to what, Buddy?”

Another onslaught of tears brought Brooklyn’s retell of the story.

“I didn’t mean to push Chase! But, but he broke my Lego; it crashed on the floor. I got mad, Daddy; I worked so hard on it and it’s broken!”

Louis went to speak, but Brooklyn cut across him.

“And then I hit Papa! I hit him lots! I was so mad Daddy!” Brooklyn was burying his head in his hands while curling up against Louis’ chest. “I hurt them Daddy! I hurt Papa and Chase!”

“Oh Brook,” Louis shushed, rocking the small boy. “What you did wasn’t nice, but they’re okay now. They’re not hurt, Buddy; everyone’s fine.”

Brooklyn didn’t respond. For a few moments all he did was cry, taking comfort from Louis’ words and constant reassurances.

“Are you okay?” Louis asked next, wanting to make sure that the boy wasn’t hurt or anything.

“Yeah,” Brooklyn shrugged, as he wiped at his face. “I’m fine Daddy.”

Louis hummed and guided the boy away from his shoulder.

“Let’s check your hands,” He ordered softly, taking hold of Brooklyn’s small hands in his large ones and turning them over. They appeared fine. He smoothed his hands over the boy’s shoulders and arms, subconsciously checking them. “Do your feet or toes hurt?”

Brooklyn shook his head.

“Daddy, I’m fine,” He reiterated. “Why are you checking?”

“Well,” Louis started. “Papa was worried you had hurt yourself. And when Papa told Daddy what had happened, Daddy was worried too. And you know what? Chase was worried as well.”

This caught Brooklyn’s attention.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Louis nodded. “Chase keeps asking about you, wanting to know that you’re okay. He wants to know when you’re coming back downstairs. He was really upset about what happened, you know? And, he keeps telling Papa that he didn’t mean to break your Lego. Chase feels bad about it, Brooklyn; I think it really was an accident.”

Brooklyn took a moment to process what Louis had told him. He really hadn’t meant to get that angry, and he felt bad about it as it was. The fact that he had made everyone worry about him so much made it seem so much worse. He was surprised to learn how concerned Chase was about him. When Brooklyn thought about it, Chase was quite a bit younger than him, but the younger boy did actually seem generally interested and wanted to help; and all Brooklyn had done was push him away.

Brooklyn was supposed to be his big brother. Some big brother he was turning out to be.

Brooklyn decided there and then that he was going to say sorry to Chase and make it all better.

****

It was show and tell. This week, it was Brooklyn’s turn. When Mrs Benedict called him it took him longer than usual to reach the front of the class due to the large Lego model he was carrying.

“That looks interesting Brooklyn,” Mrs Benedict observed cheerfully. Brooklyn beamed. “Do you want to tell us a bit about it?”

“This is a house,” Brooklyn exclaimed. “I built it with my brother, Chase. He wanted the house to have red walls, but i wanted blue. So, we used both red bricks _and_ blue bricks.”

“That's a really good way of sharing Brooklyn, well done!” Mrs Benedict praised. “That way you could both have what you wanted.”

Brooklyn smiled wide. He was quite pleased with himself because it had been his decision to share. At home things seemed to be settling down quite well. Brooklyn had apologised to Harry and to Chase. After that, Brooklyn made a conscious effort to try and get along with Chase. And it seemed to be going pretty well. There were still a few times when they had their moments, but generally things between them were good.

When Brooklyn had found out that it was his show and tell this week, he had asked Chase to help him build something to show. Chase had wanted to build a house, and so they did. Of course, there was a batman room and the kitchen had a shark bin (a shark that lived in the bin and ate all the rubbish). He was proud to show it to his class, and even prouder still to call Chase his brother.

“Is there anything you might do differently next time?” Mrs Benedict asked when Brooklyn started to round off his show and tell.

“Well, me and Chase wanted to build a water slide so you could go down it from the window. But we didn’t know how to build it,” Brooklyn explained.

“Now that would have been cool,” Mrs Benedict exclaimed. “Perhaps you could practice building a slide so that you can add it at a later date?”

Brooklyn seemed to like that idea, and decided he was going to try as soon as he got home.

“Well, thank you for showing us your creation, Brooklyn,” Mrs Benedict clapped along with the rest of the class when Brooklyn’s presentation finished. “It was lovely to see all the hard work that you and your brother put in.”

At the end of the day, Brooklyn took great care carrying the lego model out of the classroom and over to where Louis was waiting with Chase. Brooklyn noticed that Louis was stood chatting away to another parent. As he got closer, he recognised the woman as Emily’s mum; he’d a few play dates with Emily, who had been in the same class as him since he’d been in reception. Louis greeted him enthusiastically as he approached and asked him about his day. Brooklyn chattered on about his show and tell as Louis took the Lego house and settled it under Chase’s pushchair.

Chase was happy to see him as well, wrapping his small arms around Brooklyn’s waist. Louis explained that they would be leaving in a minute, he just had to finish his conversation with Emily’s mum first. He gave a small nod to Brooklyn when the boy asked if he and chase could go and play on the field while they waited.

Chase needed no encouragement. He often pleaded to go and play on the field with the big kids during pick up and drop off times, but scarcely got the chance. So, when Louis nodded his permission, Chase shot off towards the grassy area.

Brooklyn laughed excitedly and took off after him.

“CHASE!” He cried, voice happy and filled with elation. “WAIT FOR ME!!”

****

Harry and Chase had had a nice day. After dropping Brooklyn off at school, Harry had taken Chase to their local cafe and treated him to a drink and biscuit. Then they attended a toddler group before heading home. Chase had napped for almost an hour, and had helped Harry make an easy lunch. They were now spending the afternoon painting a masterpiece. Well, more of the paint seemed to be ending up on Chase than on the paper, but still, Harry told him his artwork was beautiful.

It was as Harry was admiring the paint streaks in Chase’s hair and wondering if he would be able to get it out before Louis came home that the phone rang. A phone call at this time wasn’t uncommon, as his mother would sometimes phone for a chat. However, the ‘WITHHELD’ caller ID made him frown.

“Hello?” He asked confidently, pressing the phone to his ear. He was careful not to get any of the paint from his own hands onto the phone. He quickly pressed the phone in between his ear and his shoulder.

“Good afternoon. Am I speaking to Mr Tomlinson?” The person on the other end of the phone had the professional phone voice down to a T.

Harry held back a chuckle as he approached the kitchen sink. He loved when people asked for ‘Mr Tomlinson’.

“Yeah, um,” He paused as he flicked the kitchen tap on and began rinsing his hands. “You’re speaking to one of them. Which would you like; Harry or Louis?”

“Either will be fine thank you,” The woman on the other end of the phone clipped.

“Ah, well then,” Harry did chuckle this time, as he reached for a tea towel to dry his now clean hands. “You’re speaking to Harry.”

“Lovely,” The woman began. “Good afternoon Mr Tomlinson. It’s Mrs Green here from Lakeside Primary School.”

Harry froze, his heart rate picking up. He’d never received a phone call from Brooklyn’s school before, not since they were enrolling him.

“Is everything okay?” Harry asked carefully after a moment.

“Papa! Look!” Chase cried as he slammed his hands down on the paper, in a large puddle of paint. Drops of paint flew in everywhere, and Harry rolled his eyes but smiled in Chase’s direction.

“Everything's fine, nothing to worry about too much, we’ve just had a bit of an incident here at the school involving Brooklyn.”

“Oh my gosh, Is he okay?” Harry panicked.

“Mr Tomlinson, the incident was involving him and another boy. They both got themselves into a bit of a scuffle and have both had to have first aid. It’s nothing too serious, Brooklyn has got a scrape to his knee and a bump to his head. He’s fine - he’s not badly hurt, but we would like it if you could come in so we can discuss the incident further with you.”

Harry didn’t know how to respond. He knew that Mrs Green was basically saying Brooklyn had been in a fight. It caused Harry to think of Brook’s meltdown from a few weeks ago, which made him worry even more. Harry knew without a doubt that he would be at the school as fast as possible, but as he looked over his shoulder he couldn’t help but cringe at the paint covered child he saw before him.

“Uhhh…. Yeah! I’ll be there as quickly as I can!”

The phone call quickly ended and Harry took a moment to dial Louis’ work number, before grabbing Chase under his arms and hurrying to the bathroom.

“Good afternoon. Lycroft Limited. You’ve reached Louis Tomlinson.”

“Lou, it’s me!” Harry would usually take a moment to take the piss out of Louis’ professional voice, but right now he barely registered it. He is was in too much of a hurry to get the words out.

“Harry?” Louis’ professional, posh voice dropped immediately when he realised it was his husband. “What’s wrong?

“Brooklyn got into a fight at school!” Harry gushed getting straight to the point. He had a wet flannel and was scrubbing at Chase’s hair trying to get the paint out. Chase wasn’t best pleased with this as he kept trying to push his Papa away.

“A fight?” Louis questioned, sounding terribly surprised. “What do you mean a fight? Is he okay?”

“I don’t know Louis,” Harry all but snapped down the phone, keeping it pressed to his ear with his shoulder. He grumbled something inaudible at the stubborn paint that didn’t seem to be washing out of Chase’s hair. “I just know that I need to get to the school as soon as possible; but there’s just so much paint!”

“Paint? Harry…?”

“It’s in Chase’s hair, on his hands, his face. It’s all over his clothes Louis and I just don’t have time!”

Louis who could sense his husband’s frustration, seemed to catch on. It sounded like Harry had thought painting with Chase would be a good idea. But then, neither of them had predicted the phone call from the school.

“Look Harry, Niall’s got the day off today - remember? Take Chase’s to Niall’s; I’ll call him in a minute and explain the situation. I know it’s not ideal Harry, but maybe Niall can try and clean him up a bit. And I’ll meet you at the school. Yeah?”

Harry let Louis’ suggestions sink in and realised that it made perfect sense to do just that.

It didn’t take long to reach Niall’s. His older brother didn’t look too impressed to be taking on the care of a paint-covered child, but Harry barely had time to apologise, let alone worry. He pressed a quick kiss to Chase’s forehead and then dashed off to meet Louis at the school.

Louis was there before him, waiting just outside his parked car. He looked calm and collected in his perfect smart work uniform. He smiled when Harry approached him and went to pull him into a hug before he noticed the still drying paint of Harry’s t-shirt.

“Sorry love,” He apologised with a playful smirk. “I would hug you, but you’ve got paint all down you.”

Harry glanced down at his own top and groaned at the blue and yellow paint smeared all over him.

“I didn’t realise,” Harry all but wailed. “I would have changed!”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m sure everyone will understand,” Louis reassured with a smile as he linked his hand with Harry’s. “Come on, let's go see what our son’s been up to.”

****

After the chat at the school, Louis had had to go back to work to finish his shift. Harry took Brooklyn home and had tried to chat with him about it, but the 7-year-old hardly said a word.

Harry wasn't really upset with Brooklyn, because from what they’d understood he’d been provoked. Still, Harry and Louis didn’t want their son going around thinking that beating someone up would be the answer to all his problems.

So, when Harry tried a third time to chat with Brooklyn, with no real success he decided that he was going to wait until Louis got home.

They made it special, by letting him stay up a little later than normal. When Chase had gone to bed, Harry made them all hot chocolates and they all watched a few cartoons before any conversations were really started. It was nice to have some Daddy, Papa and Brooklyn time although it would have been even nicer under better terms.

Louis muted the TV as the cartoon cut to an ad break. He glanced over at Harry to ensure that they were both ready to have this conversation.

“Hey Buddy,” Louis spoke to Brooklyn, who was sprawled out across him and Harry. “Me and Papa want to talk with you a minute.”

Brooklyn turned his head away from the TV and glanced up at Louis, waiting for him to continue.

“About what happened at school today.”

“But, but… they were being mean Daddy!” Brooklyn instantly defended himself.

“We know sweetie,” Harry hurried to reassure. “We know; we just wanted to talk with you about it.”

“Brook, was there anything those boys said or did to you that you didn’t tell anyone about?” Louis asked lightly, trying to keep it light so that Brooklyn wouldn’t pick up on his inner worry.

He didn’t rush to reply, and that gave the married couple their answer. They shared a concerned look, but didn’t push the boy any further; they knew he’d speak up in his own time.

“Well…” Brooklyn started after a few long, dragged-out moments. “There was… they said something mean.”

Harry opened his mouth to ask what things, but Brooklyn had answered him before he could even get his question out.

“About Chase. They said something mean about Chase.”

“About Chase?” Harry muttered. It took him by surprise and a quick glance at Louis proved that he was just as confused. “What did they say?”

“They said he’s not my family, because he doesn’t look like me,” Brooklyn explained, a small sob escaping him. “Because he has different skin.”

It was quiet in the room for a moment, and Brooklyn started to think he’d said the wrong thing and that he was in trouble.

“I’m sorry!”

“Oh Brook,” Louis wrapped his arm around the small boy. “It’s fine. You have nothing to apologise for. Those boys are just bullies.”

“What they said wasn’t very nice,” Harry agreed, starting to realise that Brooklyn had been sticking up for his foster brother. “But know that everyone is different - that’s what makes them special.”

“Take a look at Papa,” Louis ordered gently. “And then look at me. We’re look different; yeah?” He paused long enough for Brooklyn to nod. “But we’re still family, aren't we?”

Brooklyn looked between them quietly, taking everything in.

“And you don’t look like us either - but your still our son,” Louis added positively.

“And hey,” Harry butted in. “Me and Uncle Niall don’t look _anything_ like each other - yet we’re still brothers.”

“So,” Louis spoke, beginning to round of the small, positive conversation. “Chase doesn’t have to look like us, to be part of our family.”

The short chat seemed to have calmed some of Brooklyn’s thoughts and concerns on the matter and he now had a huge, happy smile on his face.

“But Brooklyn, while we’re really proud that you stuck up for Chase,” Harry started, his voice not unkind. “Next time, try not to hit anyone. Find a teacher or a grown up and they’ll be able to help you, okay?”

“Okay Papa,” Brooklyn agreed sleepily.

“Right you,” Louis chuckled, gently tickling Brooklyn’s tummy. “One more cartoon and then it’s bedtime.”

****

Louis stood in the doorway of the boy’s bedroom watching as Harry tucking an almost asleep Brooklyn into bed. They were whispering goodnight to each other, being wary of Chase sleeping across the room.

Harry stood and turned to leave the room, but Brooklyn’s soft voice called out to him again.

“Papa? Daddy?”

Both men looked over at the small boy.

“Yes Brook?”

“Can Chase stay with us forever?” Brooklyn paused ever so slightly before quickly adding. “Is he going to be my real brother?”

Harry and Louis beamed at each other at their adopted son’s words. Now they knew Brooklyn wanted Chase as a permanent member of the family they knew they had to sign the paperwork.

Chase was going to be a Tomlinson.

EPILOGUE

Louis rolled his eyes as he hurried to follow his two sons….. And his brother in law, through the reptile enclosure. Niall seemed more excited than the kids, dragging them from enclosure to enclosure without barely stopping to look at the animals properly. 

“Ugh….. this was a bad idea,” Louis spoke jokingly over his shoulder to Harry, who was following on behind leisurely. “Tell me again why you invited your brother?”

“He practically invited himself, Lou.” Harry smirked. “Besides, at least he’s keeping the kids busy.”

“Maybe so, but my feet are struggling to keep up with him!”

Harry chuckled at Louis tone, knowing that there was no malice behind his complaints.

“Woah! Boys did you see the size of that snake?!” Niall spoke over dramatically.

“Yeah! It was so big!” Chase replied, dragging out the last word. “Papa! Did you see that snake?!”

“Yes Chase!” Harry beamed at his youngest as they finally caught up with the trio. “It was huge wasn’t it?”

Chase didn’t respond, instead he was too busy rushing over to the Lizard enclosure opposite. Brooklyn followed eagerly, eyes alight with wonder. Harry and Louis watched the now 4 and 8 year old brothers fondly. Their little family had come together quite nicely. In the last year the two boys had dealt really well with a lot of changes, including Chase’s lengthly adoption process and moving to a bigger house.

“Well, the snake was cool….” Brooklyn muttered after quickly glancing over at the Lizard. “But the Lizard is boring… I want to see the Lions!!

It was as the group were walking towards the Lion enclosure that Louis phone began to ring. 

Louis stopped.

Harry who was walking beside him also came to a halt. He watched as Louis glanced worriedly at his phone.

“Who is it, Lou?” Harry questioned softly.

“It’s Liam.”

“Liam? As in Liam Payne? The social worker?”

“Yeah… The social worker.”

The two looked at each other in a state of utter confusion and worry.

“W-well what does he want?!” Harry replied in a concerned tone.

Louis slightly shrugged his shoulders choosing not to say anything. He cautiously accepted the call and pressed the phone to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Louis?”

“Yeah it is.” Louis replied, still apprehensive.

“Brilliant, Hi its Liam. I’m just calling because I would like to have a chat with you and Harry if that’s okay?”

“Yeah… Hang on just one second…” Louis glanced up at Harry as he put the phone on loudspeaker and waved him closer.

“Okay, go on,” Louis spoke into the phone once they had moved to the side of the path. Niall and the kids had gone on ahead, not even realising that the two Dad’s had come to a stop. “You're on loud speaker.”

“Great, now don’t feel pressured into saying yes,” Liam began. “But I personally believe you two are the best suited for this.”

There was an overly long, tension filled pause.

“How would you feel about adopting again?”

END OF PART 2


End file.
